The New Zealand dollar was down marginally today, after rising against the greenback overnight despite the blow from weak Chinese trade data on Friday night.

The kiwi recently traded at US81.11c, down from US81.13c. On the trade weighted index of major trading partners' currencies it was at 73.00, up from 72.90.

HiFX currency trader Alex Hill said the kiwi was tracking back in the range seen at the end of last week.

"It was a fairly quiet day on the currency market, the kiwi seems to be in a holding pattern stuck in this range. Retail sales numbers tomorrow should be the next big domestic focus but it appears we are still in a risk-on environment," Hill said.

"The Japanese GDP data out today had no effect on the kiwi at all."

On the crosses, the kiwi recently traded at 76.84 Australian cents, down from A76.98c in the morning. It was at 63.51 Japanese yen, up from 63.45 yen earlier. It fell to 65.99 euro cents from 66.00 euro cents earlier. It was at 51.76 pence, compared to 51.77 pence in the morning.

Hill expected the kiwi to trade between US80.70c and US82.20c overnight, with a bias towards the topside.